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Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

A split second after he’d closed his eyes and relaxed into the blessed darkness, Cassidy shook him awake. “Gabe?”

He groaned, cracking one eye open. She was blurry, and he threw out his hand to reach for his glasses. Then he remembered he was wearing contacts. The blurriness was because of his head injury.

“What?” He forced himself to wake up. With both eyes open, he could see her more clearly. Sort of. The room was still relatively dark with a little ambient light coming through the open door. He focused on her face, noting her concerned features. “What’s wrong?”

“They found Travis’s blue Corvette. No sign of Travis or any obvious damage to the vehicle. It was located about five miles from the spot where you were assaulted.” She held his gaze for a long moment. “There was a little blood on the quarter panel. Not a lot, but the crime scene techs are there and will send it for testing.”

“Blood? Travis’s blood?”

“We don’t know. Try not to think the worst.” She sat beside him on the cot. “To be honest, I have been wondering if the blood is yours. Maybe from the wound on the back of your head.”

His blood? The image of Travis’s blue car flashed in his mind. A memory? He wasn’t sure. “If my head hit the car, there would be a dent.”

The corner of her mouth twitched in a smile. “True, you do have a hard head. But from what Rhy has been told, there’s no dent. Could be you wiped it with your hand or something equally innocuous.”

He hoped the blood was his, not Travis’s. He wished he could have gotten more sleep, the pounding in his head wasn’t that much better, but there was work to do. He pushed himself to his feet, then swayed.

“Hold on, where are you going?” Cassidy jumped to her feet and stepped in front of him to grip his arms. “You need to rest. I only woke you because I promised.”

“Can’t.” It was all he could do not to collapse back down to the cot. He steeled his resolve. “There’s no time. We need to find Travis.”

“How? You don’t have anything to go on.”

He hated to admit she was right. Especially now that they’d found Travis’s car. That had been the one connection they had to his half brother.

Now they had nothing.

“The code,” he muttered mostly to himself. “The answer to where Travis is and who has him must be in the code.”

“A code you’re in no condition to look at right now,” Cass said firmly. “Seriously, Gabe, I’m begging you to get more rest. We need your help to run down the computer stuff.”

“What time is it?” He didn’t have a watch, and there was no clock in the equipment room.

“It’s almost six,” she said. “You’ve been sleeping about an hour.”

An hour? Not a handful of minutes? He winced, realizing he was in worse shape than he’d thought. He blinked again, struggling to focus. “An hour is more than I realized. It should be enough of a break that I can get back to work.”

“No.” Her steely tone took him aback. “I mean it, Gabe. I almost didn’t wake you up because I knew you’d try to get right back on the computer. Are you hungry?”

Hungry? Normally, he would be, but the nausea that swirled in his gut indicated otherwise. “Not really.”

She threw up her hands. “See? That’s my point! You’re not well enough to work.”

“I’ll eat.” He managed to stay upright. “Please, Cass. We’ll grab something to eat, and then I’ll work for a bit.” When she opened her mouth to argue, he added, “If the screen gets blurry again, I’ll stop.”

“Promise?” She looked deep into his eyes, and even though the only light was coming in through the open door, he could see she was truly concerned.

“Yes, I promise.” He forced a smile. “I appreciate you keeping your vow to wake me with news. I’ll keep my promise as well.”

“Fine.” She released his arms. “But I’m only giving in because I think you should eat something. The fact that you’re not doing any snacking is just as concerning as hearing you admit your vision has been getting blurry.”

Having seen his drawer of snacks, he couldn’t argue the point. After watching him for a moment, she gave an exasperated sigh, then turned away. “Rhy ordered pizza. I hope that’s okay.”

“Sure.” Gabe followed her out of the room, wincing when the bright lights hit his eyes. Maybe he should consider working while wearing sunglasses. Then he knew if he did that, Cass and Rhy would make him stop. Remembering she said the time was six o’clock, he frowned. “Rhy should be home with his wife and daughter.”

“I told him that,” Cassidy said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “He’s worried about you, Gabe. We all are.”

“I’m fine.” Cassidy’s concern was heartwarming from a personal perspective, but he wasn’t an invalid. He didn’t want Rhy or the other members of the team to pity him. A memory caught him off guard. Two months ago, Zeke had gotten shot in the shoulder while protecting his fiancée, Sienna, from harm. Zeke had gone through emergency surgery to repair the damage and was still getting physical therapy while being off work. That was something to be concerned about.

Not a bump on his hard head.

Yet there was no denying his concussion was hampering his ability to work.

When he followed Cass into the break room, he was relieved only half the overhead lights had been turned on. The throbbing in his head dimmed a little. He crossed to the staff fridge and pulled out a water bottle.

“You should be sleeping,” Rhy said, entering the room carrying a large pizza box.

“Yeah, and you should be at home with your wife and daughter,” he shot back, getting annoyed. He decided not to mention remembering Zeke as it wasn’t helpful to the case.

Cassidy chuckled but quickly turned it into a cough when Rhy glared at her.

“Wow, it smells great.” Gabe nodded at the pizza, surprised that it wasn’t a lie. The tangy tomato sauce and cheese were an enticing combination. “Thanks for getting it.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Rhy said.

“I’d like to say grace.” Cassidy glanced at him as they took their seats around the small rectangular table. Rhy nodded and bowed his head. “Dear Lord Jesus, we ask You to bless this food, keep us safe in Your care, and guide us to the truth. Amen.”

“Amen,” he said, wondering why God answered some prayers but not others. He desperately needed his memory to return to save Travis. But so far, that particular prayer had gone unanswered.

“Amen,” Rhy echoed. “And as Roscoe would say, dig in.”

The three of them ate in silence for a few minutes. The pizza was loaded with the works, the way he liked it. When Rhy’s phone rang, he startled badly.

“It’s Ian,” Rhy said as if noticing his reaction. “I asked him to help.” Rhy answered the call. “Hey, Ian. I hope you have good news.”

Gabe understood why Rhy had gone to the FBI for help, but he couldn’t help feeling annoyed. The computer code was his problem. He should have been able to figure out what it was for as he’d obviously saved it for a reason.

Yet he also knew they needed all the help they could get to find Travis.

Rhy frowned, and his hopes for the latter plummeted. “Okay, Ian, I understand. Any help you can give us is appreciated. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.” He lowered the phone to the table. “Ian has no idea what the code is for, and he’s been reassigned to work on the mass shooting case from the mall. Apparently, the kid who did the shooting had been digging around in the dark web. Ian has been asked to follow the kid’s trail to find out more. The concern is that there’s some sort of network of kids who are chatting on the dark web about shooting as many people as possible. If there is something along those lines, it’s important to find it before anything else happens.”

“That’s understandable,” Cassidy said. “A bummer for us but understandable.”

“Yeah.” Rhy looked at him. “I want you to rest up so you can get back to work. I’m not kidding, Gabe, we need you.”

“I promise to work only as long as my vision remains clear,” Gabe said. “Maybe just another hour or two at the most.”

Rhy and Cassidy exchanged a look of concern, but his boss didn’t argue. “I’ll hold you to that,” Rhy said. “If I catch you squinting at the screen, you’re done for the night.”

“I’ll watch him like a hawk,” Cassidy added. “You need to get home, Rhy.”

They continued eating their pizza, and Gabe was surprised the meal gave him a burst of energy. Maybe he had been hungrier than he’d realized.

Yet the moment he sat back down at his computer screen, his headache intensified. Must be related to his concussion, but looking up the symptoms he was already experiencing seemed counterproductive. Since his vision was clear, he decided to start over at the very beginning of the code.

He took his time, trying to imagine what operating system the code belonged to. Had he copied it from somewhere? He didn’t think he’d created it. Then again, maybe he had but couldn’t remember.

A quarter of the way through his review, he realized there were levels to the code. Some of the lines repeated, but then went on in more depth. What did that mean? Was it possible Travis had gotten the code from the dark web, like the teenager who took a gun to the mall to shoot as many innocent victims as possible?

The dark web was a definite possibility, but as he continued to work, the numbers on the screen began to blur together. He sat back and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes seeking relief.

“That’s it. Time’s up.” Cass emerged from behind him, reaching over his shoulder to take control of the mouse and closed the program. “You promised.”

He had, and the truth was that he couldn’t wait to get back into the darkness of the equipment room. “Okay. But I feel bad making you stay here all night.”

“There are two cots in the equipment room,” Cassidy said with a shrug. “We’ll be safe there.”

He nodded and pushed away from the desk. It was weird to share the equipment room with Cassidy, yet the moment he stretched out on the cot and closed his eyes, he sighed in relief.

And fell instantly asleep.

When Cassidy caught herself staring at Gabe through the darkness, she sat up and tiptoed out of the room.

It was too early to sleep anyway, and the cot wasn’t exactly as comfortable as a full mattress. Keeping an eye on the clock, she headed back over to Gabe’s desk. There were a handful of cops working, but most were out on the street.

Exactly where she would have preferred to be.

A couple of the officers and detectives eyed her curiously. She was self-conscious about being out of uniform.

The hours ticked by slowly. At a quarter to midnight, she stood, intending to head into the equipment room, when the phone on Gabe’s desk rang.

She automatically reached for it. “Milwaukee Police Department District Seven.”

“Gabe? Are you there?” The whisper was so quiet she could barely hear. She couldn’t even say for sure if the caller was male or female.

She plugged her ear with one finger to drown out the ambient noise. “This is Officer Sommer. I can have Gabe come to the phone, but I need to know who’s calling.”

There was such a long pause she feared the caller had hung up. But then she heard, “Please get Gabe.”

Was this Travis? She decided not to push the issue of the caller identifying him or herself. “Okay, stay on the line.” She carefully set the phone down and bolted to the equipment room.

“Gabe. Wake up!” She shook his shoulder. “I might have Travis on the phone. Hurry.”

“Travis?” Gabe blinked in shock, but then quickly sat up. “Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not sure, but the call came through on your line, and the person is asking for you.”

Without saying anything more, Gabe strode from the room. She quickly followed, her heart pounding with anticipation. Maybe Travis was being held against his will but managed to escape long enough to make a call?

“Hello? This is Gabe, who is this?” With the receiver pressed to his ear, he glanced at her, shaking his head. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

His hopeful expression crumpled. Gabe replaced the handset and turned to look at her. “We need to trace that call.”

“You’re the one who usually does that,” she said. “Did you hear anything? Voices? Breathing? Anything at all?”

He shook his head. “Nothing but dead air. Makes me think he disconnected before I was able to get here.”

“I assume Travis knows your work number?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea if he’s called me here before or not. If that was Travis, then yeah, he must have memorized it.” His brow furrowed. “I hope that’s not someone’s idea of a prank.”

“I don’t think so, the voice was a low whisper. It was hard to hear and made me think the caller was trying to hide the fact that he was using a phone.” She gestured to the computer. “Is there some sort of report you can run to find the number?”

“I’m looking.” Gabe turned and logged into the system. His hair was mussed, but his brown eyes were clear. Maybe the couple hours of sleep had helped.

She watched over his shoulder as he accessed a part of the system that she’d never seen before. Then he clicked into the search bar of the program and typed in the phone number to his desk line.

A series of phone numbers bloomed on the screen. He quickly scrolled to the bottom for the most recent call. Grabbing a pen and paper, he jotted the number down. “Does this look familiar?”

“Not to me,” she said. “I guess it doesn’t look familiar to you either.”

“No, but we can run this through another program to see if the phone belongs to someone who has registered it,” Gabe said. He shot her a quick glance, adding, “The alternative is that it’s a disposable cell.”

Cass held her breath as Gabe worked. When he groaned, she asked, “What?”

“I was afraid of this. A disposable cell.” He raked his hand through his hair, then said, “I can track where it was purchased, but we won’t be able to go see the store video until morning.”

A solid eight hours from now, maybe longer. Some stores didn’t open until nine or ten. “Do your best, Gabe. Once you have the location, we’ll be on their doorstep the minute they unlock the doors.”

He did so, using another program she’d never seen or heard before in her life. She had always depended on Gabe to support her and the other members of their time while they were in the field, but until now, she hadn’t realized the extent of his knowledge. The way he toggled from one computer system to the next was mind-boggling.

“Um, Cass?” He shot her a quick glance. “I found the store location, and you’re not going to believe this.”

“What?” She rested a hand on his shoulder as she leaned forward to see the screen. “What does that data mean?”

“It’s the store locator.” He brought up another program on an adjacent monitor. “That’s the store that sold the phone where the call came in. Look familiar?”

Her eyes widened. “That’s the same store we used to buy our phones.”

“Yep.” He tapped the screen. “I had a feeling that I’d find it here because the number is very similar to ours. This phone was purchased before ours, based on the ID number. Although I guess someone could have reordered the stock by accident.”

The same store. “It’s eerie to think that our bad guys were at that store shortly before or after us.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m tempted to call the number back to see if anyone answers. But what if Travis is in trouble? Maybe he got ahold of the phone long enough to make the call but had to put it back before anyone noticed he borrowed it?”

She tightened her grip on his shoulder. “I don’t think you should call it. At least, not yet. But can you trace it?”

“Maybe.” His eyes brightened at the possibility. “It should work as long as the phone is still on. But if not, I won’t be able to see the signal bouncing off the towers.”

“I have confidence in your ability, Gabe,” she said with a smile. “You can do it.”

He grinned, then turned back to his computer screens. She stepped back to avoid giving in to the temptation to kiss him again.

Why were her feelings changing like this? She and Gabe were friends, nothing more. For all she knew, Gabe wasn’t interested in dating a cop either. Like Wade Morris, who’d decided the danger was too much for him.

She turned and paced, sending up a silent prayer for God to help them find Travis before it was too late.

Too late for what, she wasn’t sure. Was the teenager in danger? Or had he gone along with the plan but now had changed his mind and wanted out?

She turned to grab a snack from Gabe’s desk drawer. When she pulled on the handle to the right-hand drawer, she frowned when she saw her favorite candy inside. “You don’t like KitKat bars,” she said.

“I don’t?” Gabe barely glanced at her. “I must have stuffed a few in there for you.”

She stared at his profile, wondering when he’d done that, then grabbed the candy bar.

“I found it!” Gabe’s voice rose with excitement. “It pinged off this cell tower here.” He tapped the screen. “It’s not perfect, the phone could be anywhere within a five-mile radius, but it’s a place to start.”

Munching the candy, she nodded in agreement. “Let’s take a drive. Maybe we can narrow down a few likely places where Travis and others could be hiding out.” She glanced at the time. “I don’t want to drag Rhy, Joe, or the others out in the middle of the night without something more to go on.”

“Agree.” Gabe jumped to his feet and grabbed the closest laptop. He opened the computer and quickly logged into the same program that was still displayed on his screen. When he had it, he turned to her. “I’ll bring this with me. If the phone dings off another tower, we’ll know they’re on the move.”

“Sounds good.” She finished the candy bar and tossed the wrapper into the garbage. “I want to grab some gear from the equipment room first, though.”

He didn’t complain, although she could sense his impatience. Not that he wanted to bypass safety procedures, but the ping of the disposable cell phone was the only tangible lead they had to Travis.

One he was desperate not to lose.

The vests she grabbed weren’t specifically fitted for her or Gabe but would do in a pinch. She hoped they wouldn’t need them. She carried them to the rental and threw them into the back.

Traffic was quiet this time of the night, so it didn’t take long to reach the cell tower.

“Wait a minute, is that the Wildflower Motel?” Cassidy asked.

“Yes.” Gabe divided his attention between the laptop and their surroundings. “The cell tower is fairly close to the location where we found Travis’s phone.”

And the spot where Gabe had been assaulted. She exited the interstate and turned left to head south. “I find it hard to believe they’d have grabbed rooms at the Wildflower Motel, but stranger things have happened.”

“I don’t think that’s the spot either,” Gabe said. He frowned as she drove past the area that crime scene techs had combed through earlier in the day. “I’m thinking more like a warehouse or a home that they may have rented. Someplace where Travis wouldn’t have easy access to the phone.” There was a pause, then he added, “If that was Travis on the line.”

She wished she could reassure him, but the caller had barely said ten words and none of them loud enough to assume gender.

When they reached the end of that road without seeing anything, she turned to head west. “This area is more remote,” she said by way of explanation. “East takes us closer to the civilization.”

It took longer than she anticipated to drive up and down each street, searching for a likely hiding spot. Because of the late hour, most houses were dark, but as they came across addresses, Gabe made a note of them and tried to find them on home rental apps. The process was painstakingly slow. She was about to call an end to their efforts when she saw a restaurant and bar called the Homerun that had a for sale sign out front.

The parking lot was empty, and as it was going on the 2:00 a.m. bar time, she felt certain the building was empty. At least, supposed to be empty.

“What do you think?” she asked, as she drove past without stopping.

Gabe nodded slowly. “It’s within range and an empty building that someone could be using on the sly.”

“Risky, though, since it’s possible the owner could stop by. Or the real estate agent could arrive with a potential buyer.” She frowned, trying to imagine Travis being held inside. “Maybe we should make a note of the place and head back.”

“Wait! Pull over!” His voice rose with excitement. “I think this could be it. Looks like it’s been on the market for over forty-five days. Let’s sneak up and look inside.”

She hesitated, then did as he asked. It couldn’t hurt to check the place out. Especially if it has been on the market for a long time. Clearly no one is champing at the bit to buy it. She turned in her seat as she killed the engine. “We put the vests on, and I’ll take the lead. You stay behind me, okay?”

He frowned but nodded. He shut the laptop, tucked it under his seat, and slid out of the vehicle.

Putting the vests on didn’t take long, she helped Gabe with his after donning hers. Cassidy drew her weapon and took the lead in crossing the field toward the supposedly vacant building. As they silently approached, she told herself if she saw anything remotely suspicious, she’d get Gabe out of there and call Rhy and the others for backup.

There was no visible light coming through any of the windows. She led Gabe all the way around the building first, examining the ground. She found several sets of footprints; they crossed over each other so she couldn’t isolate one to estimate size. Could be from the real estate agent, anyone. Or kids checking the place out.

The back door was locked and likely led to the kitchen. There were no windows back here, so she crept around to the side of the building.

She sidled up to the closest window and peered in using her small flashlight to illuminate the area. The main seating area consisted of several tables and chairs that looked a tad beat up. At first, she didn’t notice anything unusual.

Then she saw it. A small disposable phone sat in the center of one table. A replica of the one she’d purchased for her and Gabe.

And it had obviously been left behind on purpose in a heart-wrenching message.

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